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ExtrasUglies Book 4Scott WesterfeldCreate PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)
To everyone who wrote to me to reveal the secret definition of the word "trilogy."CONTENTSPart I WATCH THISDOWN AND OUTTECH-HEADSUNDERGROUNDAUDITIONBIG BROTHERFRIZZSLY GIRLSSURFINGTUNNELRESCUERADICAL HONESTYINITIATIONTURBULENCETHE MOUNTAINTHE HIDDENESCAPESHAFTAIR PRESSURESLIME QUEENMASS DRIVERPart II CITY KILLERSBANNEDTESTINGSHAFTEDJOYRIDEKICKING ITTRUTH-SLANTINGFEEDING FRENZYPINNEDRUN AND HIDETHE WISDOM OF THE CROWDPAPARAZZISHUFFLE MANSIONCUTTERSHONORARY CUTTERTHE PLANPart III LEAVING HOMECAPTIVE AUDIENCECreate PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)
ADVANCED ENGLISHUDZIRHARD LANDINGJUNGLERUINMETALMAKE LIKE A MONKEYTHE PILETHE USUAL PLACEDO-OVERNIGHT FLIGHTMASS PRODUCTIONMISSILEHANDSAN OLD FRIENDTWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONECONFLAGRATIONREKICKING ITTHOUSAND FACESABOUT THE AUTHORPart I WATCH THISYou all say you need us. Well, maybe you do, but not to help you. You have enough help,with the millions of bubbly new minds about to be unleashed, with all the cities comingawake at last.Together, you're more than enough to change the world without us. So from now on,David and I are here to stand in your way. You see, freedom has a way of destroyingthings.—Tally YoungbloodDOWN AND OUT"Moggie," Aya whispered. "You awake?"Something moved in the darkness. A pile of dorm uniforms rustled, as if a small animalstirred underneath. Then a shape slipped from among the folds of spider silk and cotton. Itrose into the air and floated toward Aya's bed. Tiny lenses gazed at her face, curious andalert, reflecting starlight from the open window.Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)
Aya grinned. "Ready to go to work?"In answer, Moggie flashed its night-lights."Ouch!" Aya squeezed her eyes shut. "Don't do that! It's vision-wrecking!"She lay in bed another moment, waiting for the spots to fade. The hovercam nuzzledagainst her shoulder apologetically."It's okay, Moggle-chan," she whispered. "I just wish I had infrared too."Lots of people her age had infrared vision, but Aya's parents had this thing about surge.They liked to pretend the world was still stuck in the Prettytime, when everyone had towait until they turned sixteen to change themselves. Crumblies could be so fashionmissing.So Aya was stuck with her big nose—definitely ugly— and her normal vision. When she'dmoved out of her home and into a dorm, her parents had given her permission to get aneyescreen and skintenna, but that was only so they could ping whenever they wanted. Still,it was better than nothing.She flexed her finger and the city interface flickered to life, layering across her vision."Uh-oh," she said to Moggie. "Almost midnight."She didn't remember dozing off, but the tech-head bash must have already started. It wasprobably crowded by now, packed enough with surge-monkeys and manga-heads thatnobody would notice one ugly extra snooping around.Besides, Aya Fuse was an expert at being invisible. Her face rank was proof of that. It satunmoving in the corner of her vision: 451,396.She let out a slow sigh. In a city of a million, that was total extra-land. She'd had her ownfeed for almost two years now, had kicked a great story just a week ago, and was stillanonymous.Well, tonight was finally going to change that."Let's go, Moggie," she whispered, and slipped out of bed.A gray robe lay in a shapeless puddle at her feet. Aya pulled it over her dorm uniform andtied it at the waist, then perched on the windowsill. She turned to face the night skyslowly, easing one leg, then the other, out into the cool air.She slipped on her crash bracelets, glancing at the ground fifty meters below.Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)
"Okay, that's dizzy-making."At least no monitors were skulking around down there. That was the kick thing about athirteenth-story room—no one expected you to sneak out your window.Thick clouds hung low in the sky, reflecting worklights from the construction site acrosstown.The cold tasted of pine needles and rain, and Aya wondered if she was going to freeze inher disguise.But she couldn't exactly throw a dorm jacket over the robe and expect people not tonotice."Hope you're all charged up, Moggie. It's drop-time."The hovercam drifted past her shoulder and out the window, settling close against herchest. It was the size of half a soccer ball, sheathed in hard plastic and warm to the touch.As Aya wrapped her arms around Moggie, she felt her bracelets trembling, caught in themagnetic currents of the hovercam's lifters.She squeezed her eyes shut. "Ready?"Moggie shivered in her arms.Clinging to the hovercam with all her strength, Aya pushed herself into the void.Getting out was much simpler these days.For Aya's fifteenth birthday, Ren Machino—her big brother's best friend—had modifiedMoggie.She'd only asked him to make it quick enough to keep up with her hoverboard. But likemost tech-heads, Ren took pride in his mods. The new Moggie was waterproof,shockproof, and powerful enough to carry an Aya-size passenger through the air.Close enough, anyway. With her arms wrapped around the hovercam, she fell no fasterthan a cherry blossom twirling toward the ground. It was much easier than stealing abungee jacket. And except for the nervous-making moment of jumping, it was kind of fun.She watched the windows flicker past—dreary rooms full of standard-requisition squalor.No one famous lived in Akira Hall, just loads of face-missing extras wearing genericdesigns. A few ego-kickers sat talking into their cams, watched by no one. The averageface rank here was six hundred thousand, despair-making and pathetic.Obscurity in all its horror.Back in the Prettytime, Aya vaguely remembered, you just asked for awesome clothes or aCreate PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)
new hoverboard and they popped out of the hole in the wall like magic. But these days,the hole wouldn't give you anything decent unless you were famous or had merits tospend. And getting merits meant taking classes or doing chores—whatever the GoodCitizen Committee commanded, basically.Moggie's lifters connected with the metal grid beneath the ground, and Aya bent herknees, rolling as she hit. The wet grass squished beneath her like a sodden sponge, soft butshivery cold.She let go of Moggie and lay for a moment on the rain-soaked earth, letting her heartbeatslow down. "You okay?"Moggie flashed its night-lights again."Okay that's still blind-making."Ren had also modified the hovercam's brain. True AI might still be illegal, but the newMoggie was more than just a wedge of circuitry and lifters. Since Ren's tinkering, it hadlearned Aya's favorite angles, when to pan and zoom, and even how to track her eyes forcues.But for some reason, it didn't get the whole night-vision thing.She kept her eyes closed, listening hard as she watched the spots across her vision fade.No footsteps, no whir of monitor drones. Nothing but the muffled thump of music fromthe dorm.Aya rose to her feet and brushed herself off. Not that anyone would notice the wet grassclinging to her; Reputation Bombers dressed to disappear. The robe was hooded andshapeless, the perfect disguise for party-crashing.With a twist of a crash bracelet, a hoverboard rose from its hiding place in the bushes.Stepping on, Aya faced the glittering lights of Prettyville.Funny how everyone still called it that, even if most of the residents weren't prettyanymore—not in the old sense, anyway. Prettyville was full of pixel-skins and surgemonkeys, and plenty of other strange new fads and fashions. You could choose among amillion kinds of beauty or weirdness, or even keep your natural-born face your whole life.These days "pretty" meant whatever got you noticed.But one thing about Prettyville was still the same: If you hadn't turned sixteen, you weren'tsupposed to go there. Not at night, when all the good stuff happened.Especially if you were an extra, a loser, an unknown.Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)
Gazing at the city, she felt engulfed by her own invisibility Each of its sparkling lightsstood for one of the million people who had never heard of Aya Fuse. Who probably neverwould.She sighed, urging her hoverboard forward.The government feeds always said that the Prettytime was gone forever, freeing humanityfrom centuries of bubbleheadedness. They claimed that the divisions among uglies,pretties, and crumb lies had all been washed away. That the last three years had unleasheda host of new technologies, setting the future in motion again.But as far as Aya could see, the mind-rain hadn't changed everything It still pretty much sucked, being fifteen.TECH-HEADS"Are you getting this?" she whispered.Moggie was already shooting, the shimmer of safety fireworks reflecting from its lenses.Hot-air balloons swayed over the mansion, and revelers screamed down from the rooftopsin bungee jackets. It looked like a party back in the old days: self-indulgent and eyekickingly radiant.At least, that was how Aya's older brother always described the Prettytime. Back theneveryone had gotten one big operation on their sixteenth birthday. It made you beautiful,but secretly changed your personality, leaving you brain-missing and easily controlled.Hiro hadn't been a bubblehead very long; he'd turned sixteen only a few months before themind-rain had arrived and cured the pretties. He liked to claim that those months had beenawful—as if being shallow and vain was such a stretch for him. But he never denied thatthe parties had been awesome.Not that Hiro would be here tonight; he was way too famous. Aya checked her eyescreen:the average face rank inside was about twenty thousand. Compared with her olderbrother, the people at this bash were total extras.Compared to an ugly ranked at half a million, though, they were legends."Be careful, Moggie," she whispered. "We're not wanted here."Aya flipped up the hood of her robe, and stepped out of the shadows.Inside, the air was full of hovercams. From Moggle-size all the way down to paparazziCreate PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)
swarms, each cam no bigger than a champagne cork.There was always plenty to see at tech-head parties, crazy people and kick new gadgets.Maybe people weren't as beautiful as back during the Pretty time, but parties were a lotmore interesting: serious surge-monkeys with snake fingers and medusa hair; smart-matterclothes that rippled like flags in a breeze; safety fireworks skittering along the floor,dodging feet and sizzling incense as they passed.Tech-heads lived for new technologies—they loved showing off their latest tricks, andkickers loved putting them on their feeds. The endless cycle of invention and publicitybumped everyone's face rank, so everyone was happy.Everyone who got invited, anyway.A hovercam buzzed close, almost low enough to peek in at Aya's face. She lowered herhead, making her way toward a cluster of Reputation Bombers. Here in public they allkept their hoods up, like a bunch of pre-Rusty Buddhist monks. They were alreadybombing: chanting the name of some random member of the clique, trying to convince thecity interface to bump his face rank.Aya bowed to the group and joined the blur of name-dropping, keeping her ugly facecovered.The whole point of bombing was to dissect the city's reputation algorithms: How manymentions of your name did it take to crack the top thousand? How quickly did you drop ifeveryone stopped talking about you? The clique was one big controlled experiment, whichwas why they all wore the same anonymous outfits.But Aya figured most Bombers didn't care about the math. They were just cheaters,pathetic extras trying to talk themselves famous. It was like how they'd manufacturedcelebrities back in Rusty days, a handful of feeds hyping a few bubbleheads and ignoringeverybody else.What was the point of the reputation economy, if someone was telling you who to talkabout?But Aya chanted away like a good little Bomber, keeping her attention on her eyescreen,watching the view from Moggies lenses. The hovercam drifted over the crowd, pickingout faces one by one.The secret clique Aya had discovered had to be here somewhere. Only tech-heads couldpull off a trick like that She'd spotted them three nights before, riding on top of one of the new mag-lev trains,traveling at insane speeds through the factory district—so fast that all the shots MoggieCreate PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)
had taken were too grainy and blurry to use.Aya had to find them again. Whoever kicked a crazy trick like mag-lev riding would beinstantly famous.But Moggie was already distracted, watching a gaggle of NeoFoodies underneath a pinkblob floating in the air. They were drinking from it with meter-long straws, like astronautsrecapturing a spilledcup of tea.NeoFoodies were old news—Hiro had kicked a story about them last month. They ateextinct mushrooms grown from ancient spores, made ice cream with liquid nitrogen, andinjected flavors into weird forms of matter. The floating pink stuff looked like an aerogel,dinner with the density of a soap bubble.A small blob broke off and floated past. Aya grimaced, smelling rice and salmon. Eatingstrange substances might be a great way to bump your face rank, but she preferred hersushi heavier than air.She liked being around tech-heads, though, even if she had to hide. Most of the city wasstill stuck in the past, trying to rediscover haiku, religion, the tea ceremony—all the thingsthat had been lost in the Prettytime, when everyone had been brain-damaged. But techheads were building the future, making up for three centuries of missing progress.This was the place to find stories.Something in her eyescreen sent a flicker of recognition through her."Hold it, Moggie!" she hissed. "Pan left."There behind the NeoFoodies, watching with amusement as they chased down straybloblets, was a familiar face."That's one of them! Zoom in."The girl was about eighteen, classic new-pretty surge with slightly manga eyes. She waswearing a hoverball rig, floating gracefully ten centimeters above the floor. And she had tobe famous: A reputation bubble surrounded her, a cohort of friends and groupies to keepextras away."Get close enough to hear them," Aya whispered. Moggie eased to the edge of the bubble,and soon its microphones caught the girl's name. Data spilled across Aya's eye-screen Eden Maru was a hoverball player—left wing for the Swallows, who'd been cityCreate PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)
champions last year. She was also legendary for her lifter mods.According to all the feeds, Eden had just dumped her boyfriend because of "a difference inambition." Of course, that was just code for "she got too famous for him." Eden's facerank had hit ten thousand after the championship, and what's-his-name's was stuck at aquarter million. Everyone knew she needed to hook up with someone more face-equal.But none of the rumors mentioned Eden's new mag-lev riding clique. She must be keepingthat a secret, waiting for the right moment to reveal the trick.Kicking it first would make Aya famous overnight."Track her," she told Moggie, then went back to chanting.Half an hour later, Eden Maru headed out.Slipping away from the Bombers was bliss-making— Aya had chanted the name "YoshioNara" about a million times. She hoped Yoshio enjoyed his pointless face rank bump,because she never wanted to hear his name again.From Moggies midair view, Eden Maru was slipping through the door—alone, noentourage.She had to be headed off to meet her secret clique."Stay close to her, Moggie," Aya croaked. All that chanting had left her throat dry. Shespotted a drinks tray hovering past. "I'll catch up in a minute."Grabbing a glass at random, Aya guzzled it down. The alcohol sent a shudder throughher—not exactly what she needed. She snatched another drink with lots of ice and pushedher way toward the door.A gaggle of pixel-skins stood in her way, their bodies rippling through colors like drunkenchameleons. She slipped among them, recognizing a couple of their faces from the surgemonkey feeds.A little reputation shiver went through her.Out on the mansion steps Aya spilled the drink out through her fingers, saving the icecubes. She tipped the glass back into her mouth and started crunching. After thesweltering party a mouthful of ice was heavenly."Interesting surge," someone said.Aya froze her hood had fallen back, revealing her ugly face.Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)
"Um, thanks." The words came out muffled, and Aya gulped down cold shards of ice. Thebreeze hit her sweaty face, and she realized how fashion-missing she must look.The boy smiled. "Where did you get the idea for that nose?"Aya managed to shrug, suddenly word-missing. In her eyescreen she could see Eden Marualready flying across town, but tearing her gaze from the boy was impossible. He was amanga-head: eyes huge and glistening, his delicate face inhumanly beautiful. Long, taperedfingers stroked his perfect cheek as he stared at her.That was the weird thing: He was staring at her.But he was gorgeous, and she was ugly."Let me guess," he said. "From some pre-Rusty painting?""Uh, not really" She touched her nose, swallowing the last few shards of ice. "It's more,um randomly generated?""Of course. It's so unique." He bowed. "Frizz Mizuno."As Aya returned the bow, her eyescreen displayed his face rank: 4,612. A reputationshiver went through her, the realization that she was talking to someone important,connected, meaningful.He was waiting for Aya to give her own name. And once she did that, he'd know her facerank, and then his wonderful gaze would turn somewhere more interesting. Even if insome logic-missing, mind-rain way he liked her ugly face, being an extra was simplypathetic.Besides, her nose was way too big.She twisted a crash bracelet to call her hoverboard. "My name's Aya. But I kind of have to go now."He bowed. "Of course. People to see, reputations to bomb."Aya laughed, looking down at the robe. "Oh, this. I'm not really I'm sort of incognito.""Incognito?" His smile was eye-kicking. "You're very mysterious."Her board slipped up next to the stairs. Aya stared down at it, hesitating. Moggie wasalready half a kilometer away, trailing Eden Maru through the darkness at high speed, butpart of her was screaming to stay.Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)
Because Frizz was still gazing at her."I'm not trying to be mysterious," she said. "It's just working out that way."He laughed. "I want to know your last name, Aya. But I think you're purposely not tellingme.""Sorry," she squeaked, and stepped onto the board. "But I have to go after someone. She'ssort of getting away."He bowed, his smile broadening. "Enjoy the chase."She leaned forward and shot into the darkness, his laughter in her ears.UNDERGROUNDEden Maru knew how to fly.Full-body lifter rigs were standard gear for hoverball players, but most people never daredto wear them. Each piece had its own lifter: the shin and elbow pads, even the boots insome rigs. One wrong twitch of your fingers could send all those magnets in differentdirections, which was an excellent way to dislocate a shoulder, or send you spinningheadfirst into a wall. Unlike falling off a hoverboard, crash bracelets wouldn't save youfrom your own clumsiness.But none of this seemed to worry Eden Maru. In Aya's eyescreen, she was zigzaggingthrough the new construction site, using the half-finished buildings and open storm drainsas her private obstacle course.Even Moggie, who was stuffed with lifters and only twenty centimeters across, wasfinding it tricky keeping up.Aya tried to focus on her own hoverboarding, but she was still half-hypnotized by FrizzMizuno, dazzled by his attention. Since the mind-rain had broken down the boundariesbetween ages, Aya had talked to plenty of pretties. It wasn't like the old days, when yourfriends never talked to you after they got the operation. But no pretty had ever looked ather that way.Or was she kidding herself? Maybe Frizz's intense gaze made everyone feel this way. Hiseyes were so huge, just like the old Rusty drawings that manga-heads based themselveson.She was dying to ask the city interface about him. She'd never seen him on the feeds, butwith aCreate PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)
face rank below five thousand, Frizz had to be known for something besides eye-kickingbeauty.But for now Aya had a story to chase, a reputation to build. If Frizz was ever going tolook at her that way again, she couldn't be so face-missing.Her eyescreen began to flicker. Moggie's signal was fading, falling out of range of the citynetwork as it followed Eden underground.The signal shimmered with static, then went dark Aya banked to a halt, a shudder passing through her. Losing Moggie was alwaysunnerving, like looking down on a sunny day to find her shadow gone.She stared at the last image the hovercam had sent: the inside of a storm dram, grainy anddistorted by infrared. Eden Maru was curled up tight, a human cannonball zoomingthrough the confines of the tunnel, headed so deep that Moggie's transmitter couldn'treach the surface anymore.The only way to find Eden again was to follow her down.Aya leaned forward, urging her hoverboard back into motion. The new construction siterose up around her, dozens of iron skeletons and gaping holes.After the mind-ram, nobody wanted to live in fashion-missing Prettytime buildings.Nobody famous, anyway. So the city was expanding wildly, plundering nearby Rusty ruinsfor metal. There were even rumors that the city planned to tear open the ground to lookfor fresh iron, like the earth-damaging Rusties had three centuries ago.The unfinished towers flashed past, their steel frames making her board shudder.Hoverboards needed metal below them to fly, but too many magnetic fields made themshivery. Aya eased back her speed, checking for Moggie again.Nothing. The hovercam was still underground.A huge excavation came into sight, the foundation of some future skyscraper. Along itsraw dirt floor, puddles of afternoon rain reflected the starlit sky, like jagged slivers ofmirror.In a corner of the excavation she spotted a tunnel mouth, an entry to the network of stormdrams beneath the city.A month ago, Aya had kicked a story about a new graffiti clique, uglies who left artworkfor future generations. They painted the insides of unfinished tunnels and conduits, lettingtheir work be sealed up like time capsules. No one would see the paintings until long afterCreate PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)
the city collapsed, when its ruins were rediscovered by some future civilization. It was allvery mind-rain, a rumination about how the eternal Prettytime had been more fragile thanit seemed.The story hadn't bumped Aya's face rank—stories about uglies never did—but she andMoggie had spent a week playing hide-and-seek through the construction site. She wasn'tafraid of the underground.Letting her board drop, Aya ducked past idle lifter drones and hoverstruts, diving towardthe tunnel mouth. She bent her knees, pulled in her arms, and plunged into absoluteblackness Her eyescreen flickered once—the hovercam had to be nearby.The smell of old rainwater and dirt was strong, trickling drainage the only sound. As theworklights behind her faded to a faint orange glow, Aya slowed her board to a crawl,guiding herself with one hand sliding along the tunnel wall.Moggies signal flickered back on and held.Eden Maru was standing upright, flexing her arms. She was someplace spacious and deadblack in infrared, extending as far as Moggie's cams could see.What was down there?More human forms shimmered in the grainy darkness. They floated above the black plain,the lozenge shapes of hoverboards glowing beneath their feet.Aya smiled. She'd found them, those crazy girls who rode mag-lev trains."Move in and listen," she whispered.As Moggie drifted closer, Aya remembered a place the graffiti uglies had bragged aboutfinding—a huge reservoir where the city stored runoff from the rainy season, anunderground lake in absolute darkness.Through Moggie's microphones, a few echoing words reached her."Thanks for getting here so fast.""I always said your big face would get you into trouble, Eden.""Well, this shouldn't take long. She's just behind me."Aya froze. Who was just behind Eden? She glanced over her shoulder Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)
Nothing but the glimmer of water trickling down the tunnel.Then her eyescreen faded again. Aya swore, flexing her ring finger: off/on but her visionstayed black."Moggie?" she hissed.No flicker in the eyescreen, no response. She tried to access the hovercam's diagnostics,its audio feed, the remote flying controls. Nothing worked.But Moggie was so close—at most twenty meters away. Why couldn't she connect?Aya urged her board forward slowly, listening hard, trying to peer through the darkness.The wall slipped away from her hand, the echoes of a huge space opening around her.Trickles of rainwater chorused from a dozen drains, and the damp presence of thereservoir sent chills across her skin.She needed to see Then Aya remembered the control panel of her hoverboard. In this absolute darkness,even a few pinpricks of light would make a difference.She knelt and booted the controls. Their soft blue glow revealed sweeping walls of ancientbrick, patched in places with modern ceramics and smart matter. A broad stone ceilingarched overhead, like the vault of some underground cathedral.But no Moggie.Aya drifted slowly through the darkness, letting the subtle air currents carry her board,listening hard. A smooth lake of black water spread out a few meters below her board.Then she heard something nearby, the slightest catch of breath, and turned In the dim blue glow, an ugly face stared back at her. The girl stood on a hoverboard,holding Moggie in her arms. She gave Aya a cold smile."We thought you might come after this.""Hey!" Aya said. "What did you do to my—"A foot kicked out from the darkness and sent Aya's hoverboard rocking."Watch it!" Aya shouted.Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)
Strong hands pushed her, and she took two unsteady steps backward. The hoverboardshifted, trying to stay under her feet. Aya stuck her arms out, wobbling like a littlie on iceskates."Knock it off! What are you—"From all directions, more hands shoved and prodded her—Aya spun wildly, blind anddefenseless. Then her board was kicked away, and she was tumbling through the air.The water struck her face with a cold, hard slap.AUDITIONBlackness boiled around her, its watery roar like thunder stuffed into her ears. The shockof impact stripped away any sense of up and down, leaving only the tumbling, freezingcold. Her arms and legs flailed, the water filling her nostrils and mouth, squeezing herchest Then Aya's head broke the surface. She gasped and sputtered, hands clawing at the water,searching for something solid in the dark."Hey! What's your problem?"Her cry boomed through the vast space, echoing in the blind emptiness. But no answercame.She paddled water for a moment, catching her breath, trying to listen."Hello ?"A hand grabbed her wrist, and Aya found herself pulled into the air. She hung there, feetdangling, her shivers sending water cascading from her soaking robe."What what's going on?"A voice answered. "We don't like kickers."Aya had figured as much: They wanted to kick their own story about how they rode thetrains, and keep all the fame for themselves.Maybe it was time for some truth-slanting. "But I'm not a kicker!"Someone snorted, then a closer voice said, "You followed me here from that party—oryour hovercam did, anyway. You were looking for a story."Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)
"Not a story, I was looking for you." Aya shivered again, fighting to keep her teeth fromchattering. She had to convince them not to drop her into the black lake again. "I saw youguys the other night.""Saw us where?" the closer voice said, and the grip on her wrist adjusted. That one had tobe Eden; nobody could hold her up like this without help from a hoverball rig."On top of a mag-lev train. You were riding it. I tried to find out who you were, but therewas nothing on the feeds.""That's the way we like it," the first voice said."Okay, I get it!" Aya said. "Um, are you just going dangle me here like this?""Would you prefer I drop you?" Eden asked."Not really. It's just that this is kind of wrist-hurting.""Call your board, then.""Oh right." In her panic, Aya had forgotten all about her hoverboard. She reached upwith her free hand and twisted her other crash bracelet. A few seconds later thehoverboard nudged her feet, and the iron grip released her.She wobbled for a moment on the board, rubbing her wrist. "Thanks, I guess.""Are you telling us you're not a kicker?" It was the first voice again, maybe the uglywoman she'd glimpsed. It echoed through the darkness low and growly, like she'd surgedher throat to sound scary."Well, I've put a few things on my feed. Same as everyone.""Pictures of your cat?" someone said, then snickered."So do you always go to parties disguised as a Bomber?" Eden as
"Okay, that's dizzy-making." At least no monitors were skulking around down there. That was the kick thing about a thirteenth-story room—no one expected you to sneak out your window.File Size: 912KB
